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3 new and radical anti-immigrant measures that Trump intends to establish

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 11: Senior Advisor to the President, Stephen Miller (C) looks on as U.S. President Donald Trump hosts a round-table discussion on border security and safe communities with State, local, and community leaders in the Cabinet Room of the White House on January 11, 2019, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Remember that White House adviser better known for his racism and supremacist tendencies, and who designed the suspension of DACA?

If your memory doesn't go that far, we're talking about Stephen Miller, one of the few members of Donald Trump's original cabinet who has gone unnoticed in recent months, while remaining fixed in his campaign to close the country's doors to immigration.

Recent reports have exposed the new Miller-Trump strategy to block asylum seekers on the Mexican border from multiple flanks.

According to Vox, the recent dismissal of Kirstjen Nielsen as secretary of Homeland Security, the withdrawal of Ron Vitiello as the nominee to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the assignment of Kevin McAleenan as DHS acting secretary, are indications that Trump is tired of being told "no" when pushing the limits of legality.

Even as there are rumors of new layoffs in this "purge" within the Administration, several people close to the matter have commented to the media the strategies that both Miller and Trump have on the table in their second crusade against immigration.

Obstructing asylum application checks

The White House would be contemplating "forcing" asylum seekers to provide greater and more forceful evidence to demonstrate a credible fear of returning to their countries of origin, thus preventing their cases from "arriving" to immigration judges.

According to NBC News, one of the mechanisms to achieve this would be to grant case checks to border agents and not to Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officials because, Miller argued, "the agents will be tougher on asylum seekers and will pass fewer of them in the initial screening."

Back to the "Binary Choice"

Another of the measures that have come back to the table - and apparently because Nielsen is no longer there to oppose - is the so-called "binary choice," where the government would give the option to detained parents to be separated from their children or to remain together in indefinite detention.

This strategy would circumvent the so-called Flores Agreement, a federal consent decree that prohibits the government from detaining undocumented minors for more extended periods.

According to Axios, the government would have already drafted the proposal - which could eventually result in an attempt to dismantle the Agreement in its entirety - but remains to assess the legal and political risks it could incur.

Likewise, the saturation of the detention centers in the country as well as the forces within the Department of Homeland Security, have placed some impediments in its implementation, which makes the Administration lean more towards options that keep immigrants on the Mexican side of the border.

Suspending work permits for asylum seekers

Considering that the government's original intent is to implement some migration system defined by "meritocracy" - where access is only granted to "highly qualified" immigrants - the last measure considered by the Miller-Trump duo is to block access to "any refugee."

Vox explains that the strategy would be to "give fewer work permits to asylum seekers while they are waiting for their cases to be approved or denied" because the government believes that these permits "are a factor of attraction that encourages asylum seekers to come."